Comeback whiz helped Pakistan restrict England to 297 By Khurram Zia Khan

Sohail Khan made a scintillating comeback to one day cricket with a five wickets haul against arch rivals India in a round match of 2015 world cup. Similar to his one day international comeback, Sohail khan celebrated his return to test side after a gap of five years with a five wicket haul that helped Pakistan restrict England to 297 all out in their first innings. Sohail’s rich haul also justified a somewhat surprising decision of Pakistan’s skipper Misbah ul Haq to put opposition into bat after winning the toss.

More than the pitch for today’s match, I think Misbah’s decision to bowl first is based on history of Edgbaston where teams batting first generally struggle and often lost the match.

7 times teams have been bowled out for under 300 in the 1st innings in the last 9 Tests at Edgbaston. They have lost 5 of the previous 6

Coming back to Sohail Khan, his bowling average in his two previous Tests was 245 which dropped to 56.83 after his five-for.

Recently ex-captain Shahid Afridi blasted Pakistan’s domestic cricket by saying that out system have dearth of talent. I disagree with him and in my view we have so much talent that a player if dropped from national team have to work for years to regain his lost spot.

Pakistan have never won a test at Edgbaston but lead by Sohail Khan’s epic performance, I think bowlers have done their job and now onus is on batsmen to play with grit and determination and help their team strengthen their grip on this match.

Social media today was abuzz with the performance of Sohail Khan. I am sharing a selection of this reaction for my readers